He had only taken part in the exercise once: on July 14, 2020. Re-elected in April as President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron gave his second television interview on the occasion of the national holiday, thus reconnecting with a tradition observed by his predecessors since Valéry Giscard D’Estaing. After the military parade, it was from the gardens of the Elysée, at the start of the afternoon, that the Head of State answered questions from journalists Caroline Roux (France 2) and Anne-Claire Coudray (TF1 ).
It was his first long television interview since the start of his second five-year term, almost five months after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, in a delicate economic context, and when he did not obtain an absolute majority. to the National Assembly in the June legislative elections.
Here’s what to take away from his speech:
War in Ukraine, defense: “the budget of the armies will not decrease, on the contrary”
“We have a strong army, we have the first army in Europe”wanted to reassure Emmanuel Macron about French military means as the war has returned to European soil since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia last February. “We did not wait for the war. The choice I made, in 2017, was that we added 26 billion euros to our budget during the past five-year period. And we are going to take a new military programming law until 2030”, he advanced.
« We must absolutely reinvest all our stocks and our capacities, continue to hire and train and continue to have an even stronger army. » « The budget of the armies will not decrease, on the contrary”, he continued, announcing that these means “ will serve a strategy “. He also announced that he asked “to the Chief of the Defense Staff and to the Minister for the Armed Forces” to make an assessment “new threats” so that the army is ready to face it.
The Head of State also reiterated his « admiration » pour « Ukrainians » and their “army which defends itself, which, despite the losses, holds, pushes back the assailant”, before affirming that Europe must ” prepared “ in fact the war lasts, and that “Summer and Early Fall” will be “very tough”.
Energies: the State will prepare this summer “an energy sobriety plan”
On the subject of the total Russian gas cut which is becoming more probable day by day and threatens Europe in terms of energy supplies between now and autumn, the President of the Republic admitted that “Russia uses energy as it uses it for food, as a weapon of war”. He thus asserted: “I think that today we have to prepare for a scenario where we have to do without Russian gas altogether. »
“I am going to ask public administrations and all the companies that can do so now that we put ourselves in a position to consume less. We will build a plan and we will try to pay attention to the lighting at night. We are going to make a sobriety and load shedding plan ” from this summer, Mr. Macron also announced, affirming: “We must collectively enter into a logic of sobriety. »
He also insisted on nuclear energy, which he believed to be a guarantee of independence for France, before announcing his wish that the country take action within the European Union to “reforming the European electricity market”. Mr Macron then announced that he had “ asked the government to ensure that the taxation that we receive during this period on oil goes completely to finance the acceleration of this energy transition”.
Asked about a tax on « superprofits » large oil and transport groups because of the conflict in Ukraine and the inflation crisis, demanded by the opposition, he said: “Yes, there will be a contribution but it will not be in demagoguery. »
Employment: a new reform of the labor market from the start of the school year
“The heart of the battle that I want to lead in the coming years is full employment”, then defended the President of the Republic. While he emphasized the shortage of labor affecting certain sectors, the Head of State, questioned by Caroline Roux on the fact that some young people today refuse a job when the working conditions , housing or remuneration are precarious or even difficult, replied:
I’ll tell you, if they can find and move on to another job, I can hear that very well. If behind, the answer is, “I will benefit from national solidarity to reflect on my life”, I find it difficult to hear it. Because this national solidarity, it is those who work who pay for it. A nation is an organic whole. I say it, there is no social model if there is no work to finance it.
He went on to say that“We need to improve our responses, that’s ‘France Travail'”, in reference to the reform of Pôle emploi which he had announced during his presidential campaign. The President of the Republic has announced that he wants a labor reform to see the light of day when Parliament resumes in September, in order to reform in particular unemployment insurance, the active solidarity income (RSA) – to condition it on an activity support towards employment – employment of seniors, apprenticeships and vocational high schools.
As for the “National Council for Refoundation”, a consultative body whose initiative he had announced the day after the presidential election, he wants the latter to see the light of day. “from the end of summer” and is interested in possible salary increases.
« UberFiles » : « I don’t have a temperament to be under the influence”
Then asked about “Uber files”, Emmanuel Macron again firmly affirmed that he had no regrets about the reform of the taxi market implemented between 2014 and 2016, during which the current president, then Minister of the Economy, had supported and exchanged with the American VTC group Uber. “I totally defended this opening of the market and I will defend it tomorrow”he replied, before adding: “I don’t have a temperament to be under the influence. »
He considered that the action of the government at the time “opened the market in a balanced way”. “I will always be for us to open up new possibilities in our economy and not leave them in the preserve”, continued the President of the Republic. On Tuesday, when he first commented on this case, he said he had tackled the « interest » taxi companies. “When I hear the cries of orfraies, who, at the moment on the subject of hybrid bikes, do not care at all whether for young people who are in difficult neighborhoods and who do not find enough answers to their CVs, we create enough jobs or not… That’s the fight”he asserted.
Retirement: the Head of State maintains the course of an entry into force “from the summer of 2023”
Emmanuel Macron then spoke about this thorny issue of pension reform. ” What I have committed to is to say that we must gradually shift the legal retirement age to 65 by the 2030s, which means a little less than two years of here the end of the quinquennium. We have to work longer and longer,” he repeated, arguing: “We work shorter hours than our neighbours. »
He wanted the legal working time to be increased “respecting each and everyone and being united” and claimed that “The discussion should start at the start of the school year”. “There will be work with the union and employer forces. Will we do things in several stages?wondered the tenant of the Elysée. We must improve the quality of work, the work of seniors and by working longer. I think that from the summer of 2023, we must have a first entry into force. We must build responsible compromises. »
National Assembly: “Collective responsibility will prevail” believes Mr. Macron
“Are you afraid of spending a five-year term seeing your projects challenged? »asked Anne-Claire Coudray to the President of the Republic. « Non »immediately replied Emmanuel Macron, considering that the rejection by the National Assembly, on Tuesday evening, of the possibility of restoring the health pass at the borders and for minors in the event of an epidemic rebound was “a nocturnal heatstroke”. The Head of State then affirmed that“there is a majority against the government only with [un] baroque hitch »referring to the joint vote of the groups of the New Ecological and Social Popular Union (Nupes), the Republicans (LR) and the National Rally (RN) against this article.
About the choice of right-wing deputies, who also voted in majority against despite an agreement between the president of the group, Olivier Marleix, and the presidential camp, Emmanuel Macron said he was optimistic that this would not happen again on important texts, considering that “ LRs will have a hard time explaining in front of their constituents what they did the other night” and saying believe “in the wisdom of these same parliamentarians for the texts that come”. “So yes, I think there will be a collective responsibility that will prevail”he announced about the National Assembly.